The Placement Post

So last week I received the news that finally put my placement year pieces together... and its a big'un. After applying and undergoing a very quick selection process, I have been accepted to be part of a research team on a primate and predator project in South Africa!!

I will be working mostly with the monkeys. This seems crazy as I am a big cat person, but, monkeys are fascinating and ever since I cuddled baby baboons in Namibia last year, they definitely have a bit of my heart. On the project I will be tracking and recording data for Chacma Baboons, Vervet Monkeys, Samango Monkeys , Thick-tailed Bushbabies and Southern Lesser Bushbabies along with understanding how predation by Leopards and Hyenas affect the populations.

The idea of spending 3 months in the African Mountains is a little daunting, to say the least, but it's going to be an amazing adventure. On the plus side once I return at Christmas I will have a nice tan. 

Now that I have found all my placements I decided that it maybe nice to share what I have learnt with you all. This doesn't only apply to people who are in biological sciences, everyone should be able to find some useful information; whether that it is what I have learnt from the whole experience or using some of the websites I found useful to aid you in finding work abroad!

So lets begin...
1. When companies and charities come into your university, ATTEND! This is how I first heard about the Chester Zoo programme. Going and speaking to the people who are part of the application process doesn't just help you understand the role that you are applying for but it also means you can mention who you met if you get called for interviews.

2. If you meet someone remember who they are!! I have had problems when trying to remember who I have met and what their role is. Take a notepad with you, even if it is just to write down there name and role in the business.

3. Get connected. Everyone always makes out that this is a hard thing to do and it certainly may seem daunting but it  isn't difficult. Without realising it you are connected to all of your parents' friends and their friends families, your friends and the people they know, as well as all the staff in your university. The majority of the connections may be useless BUT there will be some good ones in there! When I was interviewed for Trentham Monkey Forest, although I didn't gain the job, I would never had known about it if I hadn't spoken to my old year 11 head of year, whose son was the manager there. It is incredible who you can find by just asking your older friends and family questions. Likelihood is, even if you don't have something come of it straight away, you may do in the future.

4. Put yourself out there. Last summer when I went to Namibia (and started my blog, doesn't time fly) I took the risk to go out there on my own and it is to date, the best thing I have ever done. Namibia offered me so much experience and was a crash course in showing me many different elements of conservation in Africa. It also helped me to get to know the staff there at the time. Since then, one of the Researchers there, Matt, passed my details on to Paradise Park, who are partnered with the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, and hence, how I found out about them and now have a placement there from April next year. I would have never known anything about theme if I hadn't met the people I did in Africa.

5. Take a risk. Yes, this is referring to my Africa placement that I have just gained, because it certainly is a risk, and I can't wait to take it. I had scoured the internet for hours and hours finding different projects in different countries, trying to find something that fitted and would be in the guidelines of my placement (not allowed to pay the place to go bar living and food) and it felt like every place had many ups but many downs, including some requiring at least 9-12 months which was infeasible for me having already obtained my 2 placements in the UK. It was after lots of searching I came across a website with monkey positions and consequently found my placement. I very nearly didn't even apply as it is part of Durham University so I assumed that they may only take students from there, but I was wrong. Sometimes even if you think its unlikely its worth applying for the hell of it.

6. Gain as much experience as possible! Before Easter a man came in to talk to Biological Science Students about ecological surveying and I was amazed at how many students didn't attend. The talk was by Brooks Ecological and at the end of the talk we were told that if we sent in an email, they would connect us when they needed help with surveys, providing training for us and also experience. This, to me, is a "no brainer", for people who don't know what to do, or even if you do, volunteering one night a week to learn a new technique that may help you in the future is surely one of the most valuable things to do. So far I have attended a Newt Survey which was really interesting and I cannot wait to do another in the upcoming weeks.

7. Stay positive. I know its obvious, but I must have sent over 30 emails out to ecological firms and African wildlife parks last September and I don't think I heard back from any of them! I also had a really good interview but failed to get the job because there were lots of good applicants. Staying positive is often hard but if you don't believe you can obtain the placement, the company certainly aren't going to offer you one.

Lastly, for the biologists and zoologists, here are a list of websites that I used throughout my time of finding placements and some placements that I wish I had applied for...
http://www.environmentjob.co.uk/volunteering
Volunteer Dodo Page( slightly different to environmentjobs.co.uk)
Organutan long term placements
Info on how to gain careers in conservation
For work with Cheetahs
A primate project
TONS of Primate jobs, interships and research assistant opportunities
A blog just for Zoo Jobs
Conservation Jobs & Internships, mainly in America
Volunteer with Marine Life in the UK
Guides to Careers in Animal Behaviour
Jobs and research help in Animal Behaviour

Kew Gardens Under Pressure

For those of us with a passion for, and considering a career in conservation the news that Globally important conservation and science is under threat at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew due to government cuts is a bombshell. For those that don't know anything about Kew, you to should be interested to, as its taking away one of the strong platforms that the UK has in science!

 The Royal Botanical Gardens also know as Kew Gardens is a large area of gardens and botanical glasshouses and the largest collection of living plants in the world (over 30,000 species) and the largest herbarium in the world holding 7 million preserved species. The gardens are internationally important in botanica research and have a large role in the education institute with around 700 staff and attract nearly 2million people to the site every year.

 The government are due to cut funding for Kew Gardens again by 2016. The Gardens, which are 40% funded by the government have been told that by 2016 they will have had £1.5 million cut, which is a huge amount of money. Because Kew are already £5 million in deficit this means that they will have to cut 120 jobs and most of these jobs are in science and research, a crucial area. Cutting this many jobs means that you are removing a 1/7 of the working body at Kew a HUGE proportion.

If you still don't feel like it's that important, this is what David Attenborough has said about the gardens...
"Kew has an absolutely crucial role in looking after our botanical heritage and our botanical future. The important thing to remember is that it is the premiere botanical gardens in the world scientifically. People who think it is just a place to go to look at pretty flowers and flower beds are mistaking the importance of Kew Gardens. The Seed Bank is of world importance and it should be supported by the Government like a proper institution or university and the continuing idea that Kew Gardens is merely a playground and that you just put up the prices to look after it is a misguided assessment of the value of Kew. The Government and the scientific departments should recognise that and support it properly." 

There is currently a petition on Change.org which is trying to stop the government from following through with the proposal. To sign please visit http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/globally-important-conservation-and-science-under-threat-at-royal-botanic-gardens-kew-due-to-uk-government-cuts-5m-deficit-will-lead-to-loss-of-over-120-posts?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_mobile&recruiter=47412431

The Wildlife Heritage Foundation

My Placement
Recently I have been very busy with the Wildlife Heritage Foundation (WHF). A few weeks ago I went to an interview there about an intern role for 3 months and 2 weeks ago I got the news that I had been successful!!

WHF is a big cat sanctuary in Kent that strives towards being recognised as the best breeding centre for endangered big cats in the world which is a phenomenal mission! My placement will start with them next April which feels like ages away but I expect it to fly round.

My Photography Course
This weekend I visited the WHF again for a photography course that was a Christmas present from my Mum. We arrived onsite at 9.30. The course was taken by John Wright  of Photographers on Safari www.photographersonsafari.com. After an introduction about the best camera settings and a health and safety talk we started our day photographing with the Cheetah. On our way we were shown a piece of sheet steel that was used as an enclosure partition. It was impossible to bend or move but somehow a tiger had bent it beyond repair with puncture and scratch marks all over it. The clear strength of the animal was a reminder to us throughout the day to be careful where we put our fingers.

The whole day was brilliant, we got to get really close to so many big cats! Being 3ft away from a tiger and being so close to such endangered species was an amazing opportunity. I took 100's of pictures during the day and got to learn more about my camera which was a great experience.

WHF have so many cats including Amur Leopards, Amur Tigers, Black Leopards, Clouded Leopards, Fishing Cats, North Chinese Leopards, Snow Leopards, Pumas, Pallas Cats and many more. Getting such an up close and personal experience and the money going towards conservation makes it all the more worth while.

If you are free and in or around Kent, the WHF are having open days where the sanctuary is open to the public between 17th-20th July. It is a rare opportunity to see so many species of big cats in such close quarters and definitely not something to miss out on and tickets are only £10! to learn more about the WHF visit http://www.whf.org.uk/

Here are some of my favourite pictures taken on the day. I spent a lot of my time being in awe of the cats and so narrowing down 300 was definitely tricky.

A Night at the Museum

Last week I had the opportunity to travel down to London and go to the Natural History Museum night safari, on the topic of evolution.We were allowed to go into the building at 6.30pm and at 7 the mini lectures started about 3 different elements of evolution.

The first lecture was on Island evolution. This is the idea that, on Islands, species often undergo dwarfism or gigantism. There are many cases of this but the one that we got to look at is elephant dwarfism. I never knew that elephants had even been present on islands, especially not Cyprus, Malta and Crete! The decrease in size may have been due to resources and that smaller individuals wouldn't have required as much food or other resources. The recent DNA analysis of the species Elephas creticus has uncovered that the fossils found were actually not an elephant but a mammoth! These small elephants and the small mammoth are between 1.5-2.3m in comparison to the ancestors which is tiny, some were even as small as waist height!! There were also hippos on islands that had undergone dwarfism and were estimated to measure between 76-121cm!!

The first elephant fossil found was by a women called Dorethea Bate who was just 19 when she gained a job as the first female to work at the National History Museum in 1897 after she visited the museum and demanded a job. The bird curator found her so interesting that he offered her a job. Sometimes being witty really does have advantages!

The second mini lecture was by Roberto Miguez who is the curator of mammals at the Natural History Museum. He gave a talk on both evolution of the tenrecs family and how diverse the family are along with the idea of convergent evolution. This is the idea of independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineage. The tenrecs family are found in Madagascar and parts of Africa's mainland. Many of the species appear to look like shrews and hedgehogs but amazingly they share common ancestors with elephants even though their closest living relatives are the golden mole and the elephant shrew.

The third talk was on rapid evolution with the example Sticklebacks. He talked about how the species had evolved two forms depending on where they live. You could sometimes get both variations within the same place but the variation arose due to accidental mutations which had an advantage due to different areas having different predators. The spiny fish have the advantage when fish try and eat them, as they can get caught in the predators throat and so must be coughed up. Spines are a disadvantage in areas where they are caught by birds as it gives the birds something to hold onto so it is advantageous not to have them. The trait can save the fishes life so the gene leads to survival of the fittest and rapid evolution takes place.

After all 3 talks we got to wander around the museum at night included the Britain: One million years of the human story exhibition which was really interesting with displays of real weapons which would have been used hundreds of thousands of years ago and you got to see how tall Neanderthals and humans really were all those years ago.

The experience cost £28 which seems quite a lot as you normally would get in for free but the Britain exhibition is £9 and the fact you get the opportunity to listen and speak to 3 respected scientists from the Natural History Museum along with wandering the museum with hardly any one present is a truly magical experience and I would definitely go again!!!









http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_dwarf_hippopotamus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_elephant
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/biographies/dorothea-bate/

Whaling Ban!

Finally Japans 'experimental' whale hunting has  been banned!! After nearly 4 years since the case was first brought to light, the International Court of Justice ruled that the Japanese government must halt the whaling programme that they claim is for research in the Antarctic.

The ruling is binding and the Japanese are apparently feeling like Australia are trying to impose their cultural normality on the country and still argue that they have done nothing wrong.
In 1986 Japan signed up to the moratorium on whaling but continued  to whale in both the north and south Pacific claiming that they were undergoing scientific research. The whales being hunted are found in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, a 50 million square km area round the Antarctic which is against commercial whaling but does allow scientific research. The scientific output from the whaling in Japan has been minimal though, and many people feel like the government has been using the idea of research for illegal hunting. This became even clearer to some, as the slaughtered whales meat has been found to be commercially sold in Japan.

This ban is great news for whale conservation and will mean that species such as the Minke whales will be able to continue to grow in numbers and thrive in the ocean, but it doesn't ban whaling in North Pacific, so the Japanese can still sadly use the same loophole. If they are also able to find a better research proposal they maybe allowed back into the Southern Oceans eventually, but for now, and the near future, at least ocean giants are safer than they have been in a long time.

To read more ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26818863
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/31/does-japans-research-whaling-help-conserve-whales